Venturing Into the Wild West – of Indian Cuisine

Distracted by the signs in multiple languages promising catering, you might not know that Rasthal offers up hot and tasty, authentic Indian vegetarian cooking, says Das Ubergeek. Since one of the chefs is from Gujarat, in western India, they’ve got some Indian fare that you might never have had before.

Like India Sweets & Spices, it’s a cafeteria-type setup, but your food is made fresh to order, and doesn’t come from a steam table. In fact, no food is on display but the sweets and chaat mixes.

Go for a thali, a combination plate with several compartments. For $6.99, you get your choice of two vegetables, raita, dal or channa (lentils or chickpeas), pickles, a few puris (flatbreads), pistachio halwa, and khaman dhokla, a slightly sweet cornbread that’s a Gujarati staple. It’s a lot of food.

Dahi puri, a common snack of crispy lentil pockets with chickpeas, potatoes, yogurt, and tamarind sauce, is very, very good. Vegetable korma, in a coconut curry sauce, is delish. Mango lassi, so often just a mango-flavored milkshake, is properly tangy with yogurt and not overly sweet.

Masala dosa, a classic South Indian dish, is rather too greasy here, and overcooked to a crisp in parts.

They’ve also got some dishes from Rajasthan, the state neighboring Gujarat, notes losfelizhound. Check out dal baati and churma, which aren’t usually on offer in Southern California’s Indian restaurants.